In MEMS technology, most of the devices are fabricated on glass or silicon
substrate. However, this research presents a novel manufacture method that is
derived from conventional hot embossing technology to fabricate the
electrostatic switches on polymer material. The procedures of fabrication
involve the metal deposition, photolithography, electroplating, hot embossing
and hot embed techniques. The fundamental concept of the hot embed technology
is that the temperature should be increased above Tg of polymer, and the
polymer becomes plastic and viscous and could be molded. According to the
fundamental concept, the metal layer on the silicon/glass substrate could be
embedded into polymer material during the hot embossing process. Afterward, the
metal layer is bonded together with the polymer after removing the substrate in
the de-embossing step. Finally, the electrostatic switch is fabricated on
polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA) material to demonstrate the novel method.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions
(http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions